WebinarJam: There is delay / lag in the video between the presenters and attendees

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Why is there a delay from when I speak to when my audience hears it?

Once you test your webinar, you'll notice there is a delay of approximately 8 seconds from when you start speaking, to when the audience hears your voice. This delay is the recording and transforming of your live broadcast signal into a streaming video, which is what your webinar attendees receive. All streaming video has a delay.

Your attendees do NOT notice the delay because, for them, the signal appears in real time. You just need to remember that the questions you receive in the chatbox refer to what you were presenting a few seconds ago.

From an attendee's perspective the delay is about what they'd experience watching live television. You don't notice the 8 second delay when you're watching TV, and you don't notice it when you're watching a webinar either.

It is important to note here that there is ZERO delay between presenters. When they speak back and forth, it is in real time and the broadcast is then compressed and streamed out to the audience.

Start of the Webinar

Our Genesis Digital webinar teams use the delay as a way of increasing audience engagement, which in turn, increases conversions. You can type in chat before you press "Go Live" and ask questions like, "Where are you from?" Or, start your webinar with a, "Say hello and tell us where you're from while we get settled and wait for the rest of group to arrive." It can take roughly 30 to 45 seconds for the initial video to load for your attendees. This may seem like a long time, but it allows you to create a true introduction to your webinar. We recommend sharing a slide with your Webinar Title, Website URL and any other information you wish to include to welcome your attendees.

In chat, you can proactively answer questions that you know frequently come in, such as: Are you doing Q&A? When? Will you answer questions live or via chat? Will you have a download? A replay? Or, send them a link to your Attendee Checklist.

These can easily be added in your chat while you wait to see the "Live" signal appear in the upper right of your window. Then, take a deep breath, smile, and start your presentation with a warm and hearty welcome.

Questions

Many webinars have a Question and Answer period at the end, rather than allow questions throughout the call in order to maintain a good momentum and rhythm to their presentation. Some do a beginning, middle, and ending Q&A if timing allows.

While running your Q&A, you can either have people send in a few questions to help you get started, share some FAQs that you commonly hear, or ask your audience some relevant questions such as, "What struggles have you experienced when trying to....", "How long have you been working toward....", and "What goals have you set for your business this year?"

Pre-Recorded Videos

If you decide to play a PreRecorded Video, you must wait until you have started the broadcast to play it. Additionally, it is important to know that our program waits 10 seconds before playing the video to compensate for the delay.

End of the Webinar

Just as the start of your broadcast takes 8 seconds to reach your audience, so do the final 8 seconds. If you end the broadcast without this in mind, the end of your webinar gets cut off. However, by waiting for 8 seconds and using that time to let everyone in your audience know your website url or latest promotion, then sharing a final Farewell slide, the ending will look polished and concise.

Are you experiencing an Excessive Delay or Buffering?

NOTE: If you are using YouTube Live as your Webinar Provider, an abnormally long delay (over a minute) can be due to your YouTube LiveStreaming settings. Please see our article about Checking Latency for YouTube.

However, excessive buffering usually results from a computer resources issue and will also vary based on each attendee's internet connection, machine, and what they have running while watching.

If your attendee is watching your webinar while someone else is watching Netflix or playing an online game, they could experience a large delay. While other attendees may experience a delay simply from having a few extra programs open. Others may have a super fast internet and can do all these things and not experience a prolonged delay at all.

There are some things you can do to improve both your and your audience's experience.

Run your webinars from a hardwired internet connection instead of WiFi, if possible.

Close out of all apps, programs, windows, tabs, music, or anything that isn't necessary to your webinar to free up as many of your computer's resources as possible.